


Intuitive Child

by ElisaPhoenix



Series: Supreme Family Chaos [91]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Common Cold, Depression, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Mama Bear Stephen Strange, Other, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange Parenting Peter Parker | Supremefamily | Strange Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-12 22:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21233792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElisaPhoenix/pseuds/ElisaPhoenix
Summary: Harley completes the baby circle and reveals just how perceptive he can be.





	Intuitive Child

**Author's Note:**

> Just letting you all know that everyone has aged a year.

Stephen checked his phone again for the tenth time as he sat in a chair at the bakery where Harley was supposed to meet him. The teen was walking there from his friend's house, but when thirty minutes had passed with no texts or calls to explain why he was late, Stephen started to worry. The only text he received was the one that said that Harley was on his way.

"Victor, find Harley please." Stephen mumbled just loud enough so his AI can hear but surrounding customers can't.

Moments later, a map of the nearby area pops up on his phone and he squints at the red dot marking Harley's location. Once he realized it was a nearby alleyway, the sorcerer jumped to his feet when the dot doesn't move. The teen's vitals showed on his phone as well and although they showed that he was fine, he was in emotional distress. So Stephen grabs his coat and throws it on as he runs out of the bakery into the pelting rain, and follows the map to the alleyway the teen was sitting in. He had no idea what had happened. Was it possible Harley was mugged? The Avengers trained him for things like that, but if it was a gang or something, he could only do so much.

What he found though had Stephen's heart breaking in concern...as well as swelling with glee. Of course Harley had to complete to circle of their family being turned into babies. He rushes forward and kneels down to examine the crying baby for any wounds, and Harley clings to his front as soon as he recognizes Stephen. The sorcerer was satisfied enough that the boy wasn't physically harmed as he cups the back of his head and stands up, but just as he situates Harley so he can use both hands to open a gateway, the baby whines. Stephen turns as he conjures a whip and it wraps around the feet of his approaching attacker, and he pulls sharply to send the man onto his back with a startled help. Stephen notices the syringe in his hand slip out of his grasp and shatter on the ground, and he approaches the fallen man after he binds him in red bands.

"I take it you're the one who attacked my son." Stephen growls out quietly as he kneels down. He searches through the man's pockets when he unsurprisingly says nothing, and he pulls out another small vial full of blue serum. "I'll be taking this...and you'll be leaving."

Stephen opens a gateway underneath the man, sending him to a dimension until later when they can give him up to the authorities, and it closes as the sorcerer stands back up. Harley had clung to him as he took care of the attacker, but now he was shivering and it had Stephen opening another gateway back to the tower so he can get his son out of the violent downpour and hopefully warm him up before he got sick. Harley sneezes as Stephen steps through the portal and the doctor immediately rushes up the stairs to the boy's room. Peter had seen the two enter and followed Stephen upstairs and into Harley's bathroom, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head when he saw the baby.

"Is that Harley?"  
"Yes. Go into my room and get some of the baby clothes out of the closet." Stephen commands as he helps Harley out of his far too big clothes after starting a bath.

Peter nods and rushes out of the room, and when the tub fills enough, Stephen deposits Harley into the tub. The baby's shivers quickly die down as he warms up, and Stephen sneezes into the crook of his elbow just as Peter returns with the requested clothing and a diaper.

"Mom...you should probably change into some dry clothes at the very least." Peter suggests and Stephen sniffs.  
"I will as soon as I take care of Harley." He pulls the serum out of his coat pocket and hands it to Peter. "I'm pretty sure this is what turned your brother into a baby. Can you take it down to Bruce and see if he can make an antidote or something?"  
"Sure."

Peter leaves once again and Stephen takes Harley out of the tub, dries him, and dresses him before leaving the tub to drain as he takes the boy into the master bedroom. Stephen sneezes again when he sets Harley on the bed and the boy sticks his thumb in his mouth as he watches the sorcerer disappear into the closet. He changes into some dry clothes in record time, throwing his _and_ Harley's wet clothes into the basket, and then returns to the boy who holds his arms out to him to be picked up.

"Sick?" He asks as Stephen picks him up.  
"No cub...at least I hope not. Are you hungry?"  
"Uh huh."

Stephen smiles softly and takes Harley down to the kitchen and they snack on some fruit, crackers and cheese before making their way into the living room. The sorcerer turned on a movie for the baby before lying on the couch, and to his surprise, Harley climbed onto the couch and laid between the couch and Stephen's side. He pulls the blanket off the back of the couch and throws it over the both of them, and the next thing Stephen knew, he was asleep. He wasn't completely asleep. He was still somewhat aware of his surroundings, but mostly of the baby snuggled into his side. He was pretty sure he heard Diana talking softly, Peter responding, and maybe them climbing the stairs?

Stephen didn't stir until he felt Harley being taken and his eyes snapped open, feeling a little dazed as he tries to blink the fogginess out of his sight. A cool hand places itself on his forehead, a few Italian sentences follow a curse, and suddenly Stephen finds Tony looking down at him.

"Hey...you and _patatino_ have fevers."  
Stephen blinks a little more and looks down at his side to find that Harley was indeed missing from it. "Harley?"  
"Right here Mama Bear." Tony motions with his free hand toward the dozing child in his other arm. "You're a little out of it huh? How about we get you two up to bed?"

Stephen wasn't going to argue. A cold unfortunately snuck up on both of them, even though he had at least tried to prevent it with Harley, but the boy was obviously out in the rain for too long. Tony wasn't the one to help him upstairs though. Happy was. The moment Stephen got up, the head of security made sure the sorcerer didn't fall over as they made their way up to the master bedroom with Tony right behind him. Once the doctor safely slid into bed, he and Tony thanked him, and he left the room as Tony laid their still dozing son next to Stephen again.

"This way you two can get some rest without being bothered by anyone that comes up. Victor told me what happened and Bruce is working on the serum. He did run some tests and confirmed your suspicions of it making Harley a baby." Tony says quietly.  
"Can he reverse engineer it?" Stephen asks with a rasp and clears his throat.  
"He said he should have something by tomorrow morning." Tony walks into the bathroom and fills a glass with water, and returns to the bed to hand it over to his wife as well as a small bottle of pills he pulls out of his suit pocket. "Here. Take a couple of these. Bruce gave it to me when I told him you were running a fever."  
Stephen tosses a couple of the pills on his mouth after Tony opens the bottle and washes them down with the water as he looks down at Harley. "What about him?"  
"I already gave him a children's dose. He'll switch over to those pills as soon as we get him back to normal."

Satisfied that Harley had been taken care of, Stephen allowed himself to relax into his pillows, his heart nearly bursting with joy when the baby unconsciously curled into him. There was no doubt that Harley would switch over to Tony as soon as the engineer went to bed for the night, but he enjoyed it for now. Despite how crappy he felt he was able to fall back asleep pretty easily and didn't even wake when Tony _did_ join them in bed later that night. He did wake when Harley started to cry though. When Stephen went to grab the fussing baby, his husband had beat him to it and took Harley into the bathroom as soon as he figures out that the baby was so stuffed up he was having trouble breathing.

"You're alright Tater Tot. Hang on."

The shower hisses on and Tony closes the bathroom door, most likely with the intent to let the steam fill the bathroom while the engineer held Harley, and Stephen dozed between full consciousness and sleep. About twenty minutes later, Tony returns to the bed with Harley and Stephen wakes from his doze to find the shower had been turned off, the baby breathing easier, and Tony wrapping a protective arm around him after slipping back into bed. It was times like this when both parents got a little bit of baby fever. Not necessarily when the kids were sick or anything, but seeing each other take care of a baby or the reminder of what it was like when they had one. They only had Diana properly as a baby, the boys being affected by alien tech or serum, but Stephen got the baby fever the most because he didn't get to raise Diana.

It was also why he loved it when the boys had been turned into one. It was the only time he could have some kind of those moments back. When his baby fever was at its peak, Stephen got really close to looking for the spell that created Diana so they could have another one. But then he had the fear that something would happen again and it would leave Tony to raise another baby by himself and he didn't want to do that to his husband again.

So he pushed those feelings down deep and enjoyed the kids as they are now. Not that he didn't. He loved the kids...but he was robbed of the first years of Diana's life because of Thanos. It wasn't fair to bring another child into the family like that though.

"Mom!" A small hand pats Stephen's cheek just before Tony whispers in Italian and scoops Harley up.  
"No Spudicus. Let him sleep. He's sick too." Tony sighs when Harley whines and Stephen slowly opens his eyes. "Look what you did you little troll."  
"It's fine Tony." Stephen mumbles as he sits up, and Harley leans away from Tony, making grabby hands at the sorcerer when he gets out of bed. As soon as Stephen takes the baby, Tony huffs and walks toward the door.  
"As babies, they're big Mama's boys. You know he liked me first."  
"They both did." Stephen yawns and follows Tony down to the kitchen and sits at the table with Harley as the engineer makes breakfast.

Peter and Diana were both still asleep, and Bruce came up after Tony had Friday ask him about the cure for Harley. The boy was not very pleased about being poked with a needle a second time within twenty four hours, but he tolerated it since Stephen was holding him. Bruce left after letting the parents know it should take effect within the hour, and the sorcerer takes Harley up to his room to change him into bigger clothes while Tony finishes breakfast.

As Stephen was helping the baby into far too big sweatpants, Harley gave him a look before smacking the sorcerer's cheeks with his tiny hands, easily snapping Stephen out of his daze. 

"Sad?"  
"No. Why would you ask that?" Stephen asks.  
"You're frowning." Harley elaborates and the doctor sighs quietly.  
"I just didn't get to enjoy you as a baby for very long. That's all."

The serum must have started working because Harley was giving him another look that was far too perceptive for the age he was at now. When Stephen turned to grab a shirt for him and hopefully change his expression into a neutral one, the serum fully kicked in. He turned to find Harley back as his eighteen year old self with the same knowing look and Stephen hands him his shirt. The teen hurriedly pulls his shirt on as the sorcerer starts to leave the room, and nearly flies across his bed to grab the back of Stephen's shirt to stop him. Harley wheezes for a few moments as his cold retaliates at him for the sudden movement, but then he looks back up at the doctor.

"Is it because of Dia?" He asks and Stephen turns to him in surprise. Harley really was more perceptive than they gave him credit for.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"I noticed it when Peter was turned into a baby but I didn't really think much about it at the time. Then I saw it again when Bruce said I would be back to normal soon."  
"You remember being a baby?" Stephen wonders and Harley waves him off.  
"Every second. Now is it?" Harley demands. "Are you upset because you didn't get to raise Diana and Dad did?"  
Stephen looks away and sighs heavily. "Don't tell your father...he'll try to find a way to fix it when he can't."  
Harley slowly releases Stephen's shirt and frowns. "I'm sorry that was taken from you."  
"It's nothing compared to what you, Peter, and Tony have lost."

Stephen leaves the room before Harley could argue, because they both knew that wasn't true. They've all lost a lot. Stephen lost his siblings, his career because of his hands, his life hundreds of times, and the opportunity to raise a child from infancy that was _his_. So of course he enjoyed when Peter and Harley had been turned into babies because it filled that large hole in his chest just the tiniest bit when he could care for them. He had fallen hard into the mom role that was given to him and having his daughter's infancy stripped from him left him a little depressed. He never said anything of it though because he knew Tony, and knew the man would try to fix it anyway he could. Even if that meant magically bringing another baby into their family. That wasn't fair to any of them though.

Now Harley knew, but Stephen trusted that he would keep the sorcerer's secret.

"You can stomach pancakes right?" Tony asks as Stephen and Harley reenter the kitchen. "Welcome back Spudicus."  
Harley slumps into a chair. "I can stomach it but I probably won't be able to taste it."  
"Do you want some apple juice?" Stephen asks as he walks over to the fridge and grabs the plastic jug.  
"Sure."

The next few minutes pass quietly as Stephen pours juice for four (Tony was already drinking coffee), and the remaining two kids join them at the table.

"You know, you were kind of a cute baby." Peter says with a cheeky grin. "What happened to you?"  
"I got a cold." Harley replies sarcastically as Tony sets the plate of pancakes on the table and the kids help themselves.  
"No arguing please." Stephen begs. "I don't have the energy."  
"You're going back to bed after you eat anyway." Tony says and sits next to his spouse. "Both of you. Sickies."  
Stephen rolls his eyes and Diana looked up at them. "Do you need a cuddle pile Mommy?"  
"Not this time." Stephen replies quietly and Tony and Peter share a look.  
"Mama Bear doesn't want his cubs?" Tony asks.  
"I don't want them to get sick." 

It wasn't a total lie, but Stephen was also feeling a little down and just wanted some time to himself. Tony thankfully accepted his reasoning though and they all went back to eating breakfast. When Harley and Stephen finished, they both retired to their respective bedrooms and the doctor slumps into the mattress. Since he was already feeling physically miserable, he would let himself fall into his depression for a little bit, if only to get some of it out of his system.

He didn't want to give Harley any more of a reason to worry about him after all.


End file.
